NV man pleads not guilty to terrorism charge

RENO — A Reno man has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he supported two terrorist groups seeking an independent Sikh state in India and Pakistan.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reports that Baljit Singh said through a translator in U.S. District Court in Reno on Friday that the charges are "all wrong."

He also said his true name is Baljit and not Baldwinder, as U.S. prosecutors have reported.

The 39-year-old man who received asylum in the U.S. from India was arrested earlier this week in northern Nevada and accused of helping to plot terror strikes in the Punjab region of his home country on the border with Pakistan.

Judge Valerie Cooke appointed Michael Kennedy as his public defender and set a preliminary trial date for Feb. 11 at 9 a.m.